Santa Barbara County has been confronted with a host of significant issues related to offshore oil and gas development, including: the extent and limitations of local control over development; conflicts among state, federal, and local agencies with incompatible mandates and goals and/or overlapping jurisdictions; direct (e. g. , air quality degradation) and indirect (e. g. , socioeconomic infrastructure) impacts on the County; generation and use of revenues to best benefit the local area; and, the development of a comprehensive petroleum transportation system. This overview of major issues is from the County's viewpoint, and focuses on specific examples from each of the above-mentioned issue areas. It is the background for subsequent focused discussions of the approaches taken by the County to deal with these and other major issues associated with offshore petroleum development.